"...Your word certainly means much. You can't be serious."

"My dearest little Luna...after all we've seen and done together, you still doubt me? I must say, I'm quite hurt!"

"Enough! I have no time to hear such foolishness, what with the griffons preparing their attack. My Lunar Guard is already stretched to its breaking point dealing with the infection AND the readying of our borders..."

"Oh my apologies, my apologies indeed! You poor, overburdened thing you. I'm sure if you considered my proposal...I could maybe even the scales?"

"You've already taken my best General, thrown the Elements of Harmony into complete disarray, and have plagued my poor sister's mind with your very presence! How can I even begin to trust that your words are true? You could betray us as any moment, finishing off Equestria for good! How do I trust you!?"

"That's really the question, isn't it Luna? But then again, think about the alternative. Either way, it's quite simple. Without me, and without my help...you and your little ponies are all going to die. The griffons can destroy your empire just as easily as I could. So really...what do you have to lose?"

"...I shudder at the very thought."

~~~

...thud thud....thud thud....thud thud...

"Your heartbeat is so...it's like a drum." Twilight breathed happily, her eyes fluttering shut as she buried her cheek into her stallion's thick fur. His hooves were around her, holding her tightly against him in a desperate, but comforting embrace.

"Tain't that great...is it?" He mumbled quietly, running a hoof very softly up her spine, sending rippling shivers down her entire form. Twilight couldn't reply, simply sighing in delight and nuzzling her beloved.

She looked up towards his weary face, looking deep into those emeralds that shone with so much love for her, yet so much pain for their broken world. "The train's going to leave soon...do you think we'll really be safe?" She asked him. For months she had been cooped up in her library, chaos swarming around her in a land gone mad with rage and anger. It was hard to believe that salvation was so close, that for once they could be truly be safe.

Her beloved wore a tiny smile, tightening his hold on her ever so slightly and giving her a reassuring squeeze as he whispered to her "Ah reckon' so. That Shadow-Mane pony seems to know what he's doin', and ah trust that them Lunar ponies will do what they can to help us." He planted a small kiss on her forehead and finished with a quiet "Ah trust em'...ah think it's gonna be all ok." Twilight closed her eyes and rested her cheek once more upon his chest, sighing as he suddenly whispered "Assuming you don't die from this fall."

"...Wha-?"

"HOW COULD YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME!?!? AH HATE YOU!!!!" she screamed. A sorrowful, hateful scream.

Twilight blinked as they tumbled through the fog. It took a few moments for her to recollect her thoughts and realize she was tumbling very fast and very violently towards her final demise. And only a few more moments for the pain to register in her left eye that she had been brutally punched. Her hoof swung up as if on instinct, the unicorn unaware of her body acting on its own as it swiped away another punch from a weeping, rage fueled Applejack. They swung and grappled at each other, punching and kicking with their hooves, their two forms tumbling through the dense fog of the eerie chasm that separated the castle plateau from the rest of the Everfree Forest. The unicorn swiped one of her former friend's punches away, growling as she looked around the swirling air for any chance of saving them. She couldn't teleport them, for fear of exposing them to Discord. That and she didn't want the diseased ponies being attracted to the general area of the castle, for fear of exposing her friends and the other civilians to her enemies as well.

"You bucking piece of trash! Ah'm gonna friggin' kill you!" Applejack roared, planting a firm hit across Twilight's cheek. The unicorn let out a yelp as the hit connected, forcing her to close that eye for a moment.

"Applejack please!!!" Twilight screamed, the wind whipping her mane about. The fog made it impossible to see how close they were too the ground, but deep in her heart, she knew it was coming soon. "Don't do this! We can't hope to ever defeat Discord if we divide ourselves now!!!"

Applejack wasn't hearing any of it though, throwing another punch at the pony and shouting in frustration as it was slapped away yet again "You got him infected! You bucking FIX HIM! Give him back to me!!!" Twilight couldn't believe her ears as they plummeted further and further into the chasm. Applejack...had she completely lost it? Was the firm and calm country rodeo pony she knew nothing more than a crazy mess and a broken mare? She was just about to open her mouth to retort when the fog suddenly gave way, clearing to reveal a rocky ford only maybe a hundred feet below them. At their speed, a good three to five seconds before their deaths.

"Macintosh..." Twilight whispered to herself. "I...I'm sor-"

"GOT YA!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she tore through the air beneath them, catching them both with one hoof under each of their legs, hooking him close and tightening her hold. The cyan Pegasus had pushed herself down so hard, she left the craggy edges of the chasm walls behind her splattered with the after-burning color of rainbows. "Hold on!!!" She shouted, angling her wings and trying her best to keep them all steady while she made for the ground at a much slower speed. As she would on a runway, Rainbow leveled herself out perfectly before letting her legs spread out, releasing her friends to the ground with two loud thumps. She landed with a quick flurry of galloping hooves before finally settling down to a stop, turning quickly and shouting "Twilight, you two ok!?"

"F...fine I think..." she answered, her wind-blown mane damp with sweat and dew from the fog "I think...I think I'm going to keep my hooves on the ground from now on."

Rainbow nodded before shooting a deadly glare towards her 'friend', growling towards her with venom in her voice "Well that could have been done easily if SOMEPONY hadn't just attempted murder!"

"Oh you would defend her!" Applejack shouted back, the orange mare having trouble steadying herself on her wobbly legs. She was a pony built for the ground as well, not the wild winds. "She got Shadow-Mane infected!" She stamped her front hooves loudly, drawing gasps out of the other two ponies in regards to her shocking statement. "Give him back, NOW!" She shouted, tears brimming her eyes. "Give him back, and GO AWAY!"

Twilight opened her mouth slightly, her eyes softening in sadness and hurt...hurt for her friend. "Applejack...I'm, I'm so sorry..." she said, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. She had to tell her...she couldn't lie to her, not to the Element of Honesty. She had to tell her the truth...no matter what the consequences. "Applejack I can't...he's gone."

"Whaddya mean he's gone?!" Applejack roared, her straw-colored mane broken free of its band and hanging limply around her body in a rough, wind-blown mess. "Ponies infected once can be brought back! FIX HIM!!!" She stamped her hooves again, her tears flowing freely and without any shame in her heart. She couldn't face another age of darkness, not without him, not again.

"Applejack..." Twilight whispered "Please...calm down. I'm not your enemy." She took a deep breath, holding a hoof out to her and saying "My friend...my beautiful Applejack...Shadow, he..."

Twilight flapped her magically conjured wings as hard as she could, dodging the deadly bolts of magic that flew from Trixie's horn. Above and all around, gun and cannon fire rang out across the battlefield known as Canterlot. Swarms upon swarms of ravaged and infected ponies flew and stampeded about, overwhelming most of the Lunar Guard who refused to back down, refused to retreat. It was pony against pony, monster against innocent.

"Dammit...if I don't hurry up and finish this, there's not going to be any infected ponies left to save..." she muttered to herself. If she could kill Trixie and light the Great Purge off with her magic, there could be a chance to save most of the infected. It was actually a bit sad...the Lunar Guard were doing too GOOD of a job. She could only hope that Trixie would go down quickly. Any pony she could save was worth it, and time was of the absolute essence if she was to save as many as she could.

She looked below as she heard the roaring cries of one certain pony, his wing-blades and sword thick with infected blood, bodies piled up all around him. The great Captain Shadow-Mane of the elite Shadow Squad, a group Luna would often refer to as her 'Special Forces'. The pony who, according to him, carried back the artifact that contained the sealed away bloods of every major race in Equestria and perhaps the world. Along with it...Discord's blood, what was pretty much the entirety of the Ravage Virus itself.

When she thought about it...was it really a virus? Or...maybe it was just simply magic. Discord's Chaos...an element that spread and brought with it death and insanity to anything and everything it touched. Deep in his blood...touching all of the innocence of Equestria. Evil was an element that lived in the hearts of everypony, no matter how small. Maybe Discord's blood didn't infect them...maybe it just brought out the slumbering evil that rested deep in a pony's heart. Maybe they were all infected at heart...infected with themselves and their own deep chaos.

She thought about this for a moment as she pursued Trixie, turning her head back only once to hear Captain Shadow-Mane cry out in pain. A lurker pony had bitten him through an exposed part of his armor, sinking its teeth into his tender flesh and sealing his doomed fate. The unicorn swore as the Captain threw the monster off of him, shouting at his fellow comrades to continue falling back. A true hero...continuing the fight despite a failing cause.

"How brave..." Twilight whispered quietly, turning her head back towards her foe and narrowing her eyes. "All the more reason to kill you quickly and fix all who have been hurt by this terrible magic. Please...see reason or die quickly Trixie, these innocents can ill afford more delays to their salvation."

"Y...You...!" Applejack sputtered, her irises shrinking to mere pinpricks, her breath coming out in shallow heaves. "You're lying!" She shouted, her eyes wide and terrified as she pointed a heavy hoof towards Twilight. "You're bucking lyin'! He can't have been...he's not one of them forever!!!"

"Applejack I'm sorry..." Twilight whispered, her head and eyes cast towards the ground. "I watched it all happen as I chased Trixie...there was nothing I could do." She lifted her head to look at her rageful and sorrowful friend. "If I hadn't stopped Trixie then and there, a carrier hell bent on destroying all of us...if I hadn't stopped her, none of us would have walked away alive. I couldn't stop to help...he knew what was at stake." Applejack shook her head, tears streaming down her face and a sob choking itself out of her as Twilight went on "In his mind...he was fulfilling his final duty to Equestria and her ponies. He gave his life to save you Appleja-"

"SHADDUP!" Screamed the country mare, shaking her head violently and splattering the ground with her tears. "Ah've heard enough!"

At this, Rainbow simply let out a frustrated groan and tore at her rainbow mane with her hooves for a moment before shouting "AJ are you even listening to yourself right now!? You've gone completely bonkers! This is Twilight, your best FRIEND! She's trying to save us, not take away our loved ones!"

Applejack was having none of it though, shaking her head furiously and shouting "NO! She should have just stayed away! All of this blood and madness just followed her back! She came back and brought the end of the world with her!" She pointed an accusing hoof towards the unicorn, the lavender mare wearing only a pained expression on her face. "No friend o' mine would destroy the world she loved! No pony would! How can you just sit there and defend her when all she's brought is misery!?"

"All that I've seen her do," Rainbow spat back "It try and HELP us. Band us together to fight back against Discord! She ferried our friends away to safety, and is still working on getting others out of Ponyville! She's trying her very best to stay hidden and away from Discord, and buy us all the time we need to come up with a plan to fight back!" Applejack looked towards the ground, lost in her own misery as Rainbow rambled on "We have to fight! No matter what, I'm definitely not going to just roll over and let Discord have his way with me, or any of my friends! Why can't you pull your head out of your ass and SEE THAT?!"

"Girls, please!" Twilight spoke up, her voice trembling with sadness "The more we pull apart, the more Discord wins. Rarity is infected but I can save her, if there's anything I can do, I'm going to try and save them all!" She looked towards Applejack, holding a hoof out towards her "All we know is what we've been told. I may have learned some things of the virus through the records of the scientists in the Everfree Forest's secret bunker, but that doesn't mean it's all true!" She took a few steps towards Applejack, being careful not to overstep her boundaries. Despite all of her anger, Twilight could tell Applejack was still listening. "Maybe the scientists hadn't had the full amount of time to study the Ravage before it got loose? Maybe...maybe they were looking for a cure, maybe they found one, besides the Great Purge!" She approached Applejack slowly, inching her way towards her before sitting back on her flank. She put a gentle hoof on her friend's shoulder, the country mare heaving with a few sobs. "Wouldn't it be wonderful...a beautiful thing if everypony could still be saved Applejack? If there was more we could learn, more we could do? Maybe...maybe Shadow-Mane can still come back."

Applejack lifted her head slightly, tears flowing freely down her face. Her eyes were still looking away from her former unicorn friend, but they were wrought with concern and perhaps...perhaps a little bit of hope. "I..." she started to say, but was cut off by a loud screech and the flapping of familiar wings.

"Guys look out!" Rainbow shouted as an infected Shadow-Mane blasted out of the fog, barreling straight for Twilight and Applejack. The unicorn gasped, grabbing Applejack in a tight hug and diving backwards with her friend. The infected bat-pony landed in the spot they had only just previously occupied.

As Twilight straightened herself out, Applejack gave only a cry of anguish and fresh tears from spilled from her eyes. Rainbow hurried forward, putting herself between her friends and a slowly approaching infected Shadow. "You two stay back! Twilight you can't use your magic against him, Discord could find out!"

"Stop!" Applejack shouted, rushing past Rainbow and towards the bat-pony. "He musta' followed mah scent!"

"AJ STOP!" Rainbow roared after her, holding a hoof out towards her "What the hay are you doing!?"

Twilight could do nothing but watch as Applejack charged towards Shadow-Mane, grasping him in a tight hug and pinning his body against hers. The infected pony thrashed against her, roaring and slobbering all over Applejack's back. "Ah had enough o' the death! All this pain!" she cried out, holding on as hard as she could. She pushed her forehead against Shadow's neck, the top of her head nuzzling the underside of his chin. She looked at Twilight from one of her eyes, her emeralds boring straight into her gleaming violets. "You say there could be a cure out there Twilight!? A way to end all o' this once n' for all!?"

The unicorn desperately shook her head, holding a hoof out towards her and shouting "I don't know! There's no telling if there is or not!" She called out to her desperately, unsure if she really liked where this sudden, dire situation was going. "I don't know if I can really save everypony, but I'm trying my best!"

Applejack simply nodded, her eyes darting upwards towards the still thrashing Shadow-Mane. "Alright..." she whispered, closing her eyes. "Ah don't believe you Twilight...Ah still think this is all your fault." She let out a heavy sigh as she slightly eased her grip on the struggling bat-pony. "If you really care...prove it." She opened her eyes slowly, looking straight at Twilight with a determined look on her face.

"A...Applejack," Twilight gasped, her eyes widening "Don't! Applejack NO!"

"If you really care............save him. If you really care...........save me".

She eased her grip on Shadow-Mane, the bat pony taking his chance and pulling his head away from her as much as she could before throwing it down, his muzzle open to strike. Twilight and Rainbow Dash could only gasp in horror as Shadow sank his teeth into Applejack's shoulder, the country mare clenching her eyes tight, winching and letting out a muffled yelp as blood started to seep through her fur.

"Rainbow Dash get out of here." Twilight growled, her eyes narrowing as she watched Applejack start to shake against Shadow-Mane, the corners of her eyes leaking not with tears...but with blood. "Get back to the castle, and don't look back."

Rainbow was shedding her own tears, sniffing as she shook her head and whimpered "N...no! I can't just leave her like this...I can't just lose more of my friends!"

"RAINBOW GO!" Twilight roared as Applejack opened her eyes, the once beautiful color of emeralds replaced with the most dazzling color of dark, bloody rubies. "Do whatever you can! Protect the others!" She turned towards the weeping cyan pony, a look of rage in her eyes "Find the answers, find them and use them to stop Discord! Hurry! GOOOO!!!"

The cyan Pegasus lingered for only a few more moments before taking off with as much force as she could, cracking the ground underneath her. Shadow looked up after her, snarling and fanning out his wings in attempts to chase after her. "Oh no you don't!" Twilight snarled as the bat-pony took off. She quickly flicked her hoof upwards, the knife flying up out of its sheath. With a twirl, she caught the knife in clenched teeth and threw it with deadly accuracy into the sky. The blade honed in on its target, sinking its eager edges and point into one of Shadow-Mane's wings, drawing a deep howl out of the pony and sending him crashing back into the ground.

The freshly infected Applejack roared towards the carrier, charging towards her in hopes of culling a pony that 'wasn't part of the herd'. Twilight grimaced as the diseased country mare charged toward her, her rampaging hooves kicking up grass and dirt where they thundered.

Twilight simply leaned back as Applejack lunged at her, throwing her hooves out towards the unicorn. Twilight quickly wrapped her front legs around her friend, dipping back and using Applejack's momentum to smash her friends forehead into the ground, performing a perfect suplex. Applejack dropped like a complete rock, knocked completely out and falling over on the ground with a loud 'thump'!

Shadow cried out in pain, whining like an animal as the sharp pain from the knife rippled through his body. Twilight, her eyes narrowed in anger, simply approached the bat-pony and ripped her blade right out of his wing. He let out a pained howl, but was quickly silenced as Twilight whispered "Shut up...", smashing him in the face with the handle of the knife. She knocked him out, shoving him backwards onto the ground.

She sheathed her knife after a moment, looking between the two of her fallen friends and sighing. Turning her head and leaning forehead with her neck, Twilight gently placed her teeth around a small part of her back. She felt around for a good spot before sucking in a deep breath and biting down, breaking her skin and letting her own blood slowly fill her mouth. She drank down a small gulp before pulling her bloody lips away and letting her carrier scent fill the air. "There..." she whispered, looking upwards towards the fog and the Everfree Forest above "Follow me, away from my friends and family..." She narrowed her eyes as she turned, galloping towards the forest "Come to momma..."

The lavender mare ran and ran, winding her way through the trees and putting as much speed as she could in her hooves and stride. Minutes passed, maybe an hour, and eventually...howls echoed through the trees. The carrier unicorn dove over a fallen tree as the scent of disease reached her over the wind. As she landed, an infected earth pony burst through some nearby bushes. "Screw hiding anymore..." Twilight growled, sliding to a stop and turning to face the pony. With a twirl of her body, she delivered a heavy round-house hoof to the pony's face, flinging her away into a nearby tree. "If Discord wants a fight, wants to keep taking my friends away from me, I'll give him a taste of my own chaos!"

She flicked up two rocks with her hooves, turning and bucking them with as much force as she could with two new attackers that soared down from the canopy above. They met their mark, knocking them out and sending them towards the ground with heavy crashes. "He wants to tighten his grip? Fine, I'll just slip through his dreaded claws and stir up a bit of trouble! Whatever I can do to distract them from my friends...maybe give Rainbow some time!"

As the howls of monsters closed in around her, she narrowed her eyes and looked up towards a tiny hole in the canopy. "I don't care what it takes..." she whispered menacingly towards what sky she could see "I'm going to do whatever it takes to undermine your rule. I'm going to hurt you, hurt you like you've hurt me..." The violets of her eyes gleamed even brighter with an ethereal, magical glow as she growled "Whatever it takes, even if it I fail, even if I can't save them..." She paused to clobber another infected pony rushing at her with a backhoof and to deliver a buck into another's face. "Even if I die trying, I'm coming after you Discord."

"....And I am going to KILL YOU."

Somewhere, far away in another city, high up in the sky and from atop a tiny, but comfortable cloud shaped into the shape of a hammock, a certain monster rested. He turned his head slowly, his eyes casting off in a certain direction as an eerie, evil smile spread across his face. He gave out a delightful, chaotic cackle as thunder boomed out around him, a few of his 'children' flying about, snarling and hissing at him as they patrolled the outer lengths of Haven City, the new capital of Equestria.

Beside him, a very uncomfortable and angry looking Princess Luna rested on a nearby cloud, her front and back hooves shackled and chained together. A metal ring rested around her horn, cutting off her magic while her wings were clasped tightly to her side, a blue band of some kind of rubber resting firmly around her body. "We fail to see what you findeth so funny," she growled, trying to get to the irritated itch under one of the hoofcuffs adorning her legs.

Discord ignored her, tapping his claws and paws together in sequence and smiling widely. "Oh...little Sparkle..." he whispered to himself, looking over for a moment to watch Luna nibble and gnaw at her restraints, going for the itch that Discord was secretly causing with his magic. "Cute..." Discord muttered to himself, looking back over towards the Everfree Forest. "Kill me will you...?" He let out a small, tiny laugh, his red and yellow eyes gleaming with chaos.

"Oh...this is going to get interesting." He looked over towards Luna...a lingering look. Her eyes flicked up suddenly, her teeth in mid nibble. She caught his gaze and held it, a look of venom in her eyes but also....hope.

"...very interesting indeed."

Author's Notes:

Here's that first update I promised you, second one is on it's way!!!